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When voters in Oregon鈥檚 gave the nod to a huge technology project there, district leaders realized that a shift was needed in the departments that focused on instruction and technology.

In the past, those two groups鈥攖he teaching and learning group and the instructional-technology group鈥攚ere siloed, each working on separate pieces of an issue, sometimes duplicating each other鈥檚 work, and often doing so without a deep understanding of the concerns of their counterparts in the other department.

But with the approval of a $680 million bond in 2014, much of it aimed at modernizing schools, improving technology, and launching a 1-to-1 device initiative, officials in Beaverton knew that had to change.

鈥淲e were supposed to collaborate 鈥� and roll this out,鈥� said Ginny Hansmann, Beaverton鈥檚 new chief academic officer. 鈥淏ut before, philosophically, we weren鈥檛 always together. Traditionally, IT maybe hasn鈥檛 understood instruction, and the instruction side didn鈥檛 understand technology like they should.鈥�

Restructuring for Change

The 40,700-student Beaverton school district is the third largest in Oregon, located in the suburbs of Portland. About half of the student body is made up of students of color鈥攎ostly Hispanic and Asian American鈥攁nd 36 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. The district鈥檚 move toward greater integration started with the creation of Hansmann鈥檚 position. The CAO job had existed in the district several years earlier, but was consolidated under another position. In 2015, the position was reinstated with Hansmann鈥攚ho has worked in the district for more than 30 years鈥攊n the post. The CAO oversees the district鈥檚 teaching and learning department, which includes curriculum adoption, assessment, and professional development.

She began work with her counterpart in technology, chief information officer Steven Langford, on the district鈥檚 project鈥攁n offshoot of a federal initiative that asks school superintendents to pledge to foster a culture of digital learning. Beaverton鈥檚 version of Future Ready includes an overhaul of the district鈥檚 technology infrastructure and the integration of iPads and Chromebooks into learning strategies. That work also means training teacher teams to become technology experts and leading integrators of devices.

But Hansmann and Langford quickly realized that staff members in both departments didn鈥檛 know each other well and that communication was a barrier.

鈥淲e鈥檝e always had very good people, but we were spread thin. It was hard to schedule meetings to get face to face,鈥� Langford said. 鈥淭here was the desire, but we didn鈥檛 have the right structure.鈥�

So the district made a move: In prior years, district librarians and innovation strategists whose missions were closely tied to technology had operated out of the IT department. But under the new structure, the group was moved to the teaching and learning department.

鈥淚t made all the difference in the world,鈥� said Hansmann, though she and Langford acknowledged that it was a challenging transition for employees switching departments who felt 鈥渁 little lost鈥� being pulled from their home group.

In addition to reorganizing positions, Hansmann and Langford met weekly as part of a leadership team and then scheduled one-on-one meetings regularly. They also made sure that project managers in their respective departments knew exactly who their counterparts were in the other department and met with them weekly.

Innovation strategists working with content areas now make sure the content is infused with professional development for teachers, for example, not just focused on the technology being used. And the two departments recently held a retreat day to bring both groups together for work sessions devoted to the Future Ready efforts.

The experience was eye-opening, said John Peplinski, the district鈥檚 administrator for instructional digital design. The teaching and learning group learned that IT鈥檚 job isn鈥檛 as simple as flipping switches and installing routers. IT staff members got a firsthand view of the impact on a classroom teacher when technology doesn鈥檛 work, Peplinski said. They learned how that can demolish a teacher鈥檚 entire lesson and shake his or her confidence.

Jenny Takeda, a district librarian who moved from the IT department into teaching and learning under the reorganization, said the change has helped staff focus on technology being used as part of a learning strategy rather than having an emphasis on the device or hardware itself.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want technology to be seen as an add-on,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll of this work is connected, so those bridges are really important.鈥�

Hansmann said she can already see this new collaboration playing out in decisions around technology. The district is in the process of choosing a new learning-management system, and as administrators evaluate vendors, the teaching and learning staff and the IT staff are exploring the products together, taking into consideration assessment and instructional practices and lesson-sharing concerns, for example, along with interoperability issues and other technical pieces.

Similarly, as the district explores adoption of a English/language arts curriculum, both departments are represented on a project team.

鈥淪ome of the problems before were that we didn鈥檛 have the level of expertise in teaching and learning to evaluate the resources [technically], and in IT, they didn鈥檛 have the instructional background,鈥� Hansmann said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of having both in the room.鈥�

Same Issue, Different Lingo

All that is trickling down to the school level, where 15 schools are rolling out devices to students this school year. At Highland Park Middle School, a grade 6-8 school focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, school officials recently deployed 1,000 devices鈥攂oth iPads and Chromebooks鈥攖o students, said Principal David Nieslanik.

Nieslanik said he鈥檚 noticed a difference in the type of professional development his teachers are getting around the technology initiative. It鈥檚 more of a marriage between enhancing learning and how to use the technology, instead of being just about the hardware, he said.

What鈥檚 more, he said, the structural changes between the two departments have streamlined his ability to solve problems and get questions answered by not having to call two separate offices and having to explain the issue twice. The two departments are finally using the same talking points and terminology, he said.

In the past, 鈥�20 minutes into the conversation, you would realize they鈥檙e both talking about the same thing, but using totally different lingo and attacking the same problem from different lenses without knowing it,鈥� Nieslanik said.

While the structure is still very new, and the Future Ready initiative is in its beginning stages, Langford, the CIO, said the close working relationship between the two departments and his partnership with Hansmann will, he hopes, help avoid future pitfalls.

鈥淚鈥檝e been here 10 years, and this is the most exciting 12 months I鈥檝e had,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e changed the way we think about technology supporting instruction.鈥�